Dynamics
by Lori von Loco
Summary: "Ronan was a Raven Boy and, like Gansey and Adam and Noah, he was undoubtedly her friend." Blue and Ronan have a brief conversation. Mentions of Adam/Ronan and Blue/Gansey.


**Dynamics**

**A/N: **This is my first ever fanfiction for a book, which is neat. I just felt like practicing the characterization of my favorite character of this series (that would be Ronan), as well as the sibling-esque relationship between him and Blue. My goal here is to do just that, in the form of some conversation involving his crush on Adam. Post Dream Thieves.

-x-

Richard Gansey III was a popular topic on the tongues of Henrietta's inhabitants. Some tittered over his greatness, his deferential nature, while others argued their discontent for the "rich snob." It was clear, even after a short time spent in the town, that opinions of him were motley and abundant.

The perfect examples of that were Blue Sargent and Ronan Lynch.

Ronan saw him as a brother—something like Declan, only somehow _less _Declan. Gansey was a perfect replacement for the slot of older brother, to stand on one side of him while Matthew occupied the other. They were like family, the three of them.

Blue, on a different note, regarded Gansey with the too-warm smiles of an enamored suitor. What Ronan hadn't told her was that, once upon a time, he'd felt the same as she did.

Things changed because of Adam, for both Blue and Ronan.

It was a sunny Saturday afternoon when Blue showed up, unannounced, to Monmouth Manufacturing. The day was lit by waves of heat provided by the Virginia summer, giving Gansey incentive to drag Adam out of the house for a sort of tense reconciliation at the nearest lake and convincing Noah that a solo trip to the library would do some good. This, of course, left the girl alone with the wild-eyed middle Lynch brother.

They stared at each other for a considerable length of time before either of them said anything. Blue's expression suggested that she'd expected more company. Ronan's was the same as always: two downward-sloping eyebrows forming dark slashes over his eyes, mouth an unmoving line.

The girl broke the silence with the question Ronan already knew was coming: "Where's Gansey?"

"Out," he said.

"Noah?"

"Out."

"I'm guessing Adam's out too." She already knew the answer.

Ronan made a vague noise to affirm, anyway, before he disappeared into his room.

Today, Blue felt brave. With no one around to witness the verbal assault she readily expected, she had enough incentive to finally do what she'd never done before: Enter Ronan's room. She followed right after him, gripped the doorjamb to his room for a moment to collect herself, and then cleared the threshold in a single step.

Ronan only leveled another stare at her, still wearing his angry slash marks for eyebrows, only now his lips were pursed. Or, rather, they had been before he began talking. "They really aren't here. I didn't just make that up."

When Blue answered, her voice sounded the slightest bit surprised; she surmised that this was from her incorrect assumption that Ronan would yell. "I know. I believe you."

"So you can go now."

She stopped herself from commenting on his tone. "Or I could wait for them to get back." Her voice pitched upward hopefully. Curious as to his reaction, she raised her eyebrows at him when he met her gaze.

"I don't care." The boy sat down on his bed and tugged his phone from his pocket, fingers poised for texting and yet not typing anything. "I don't know why you'd want to. I can just tell you where they are."

"Really?"

"Sure, if you'd leave me alone."

Blue rolled her eyes, tapped her chin, and hummed in sequence. "I think I'd rather stay."

Ronan suppressed an exasperated sound. "It's Gansey you're after, not me. Go fuck with him, instead."

The girl bristled visibly, pupils dilating along with the rigid tightening of her fists at her sides. He knew that look very well.

What came out of her mouth was not "What do you mean?" nor was it "That's not true." Instead, the words that made it past her lips were, "How did you know?"

Ronan's words were just as fluid, almost as though they meant nothing. To him, maybe they didn't. "Because I did too, once."

Blue was quiet for a moment. Despite her previous ability to speak clearly, the only thing she could manage now was a soft, "Oh."

Ronan was quiet for much longer than a moment.

Blue decided to take it upon herself to keep the conversation going, to show she didn't mind his once-there crush, but that she minded his sudden knowledge of _her_ once-there crush on Adam. "Don't tell him." She wasn't sure if she was talking about Adam or Gansey.

He grunted, and she repeated herself with a bit more conviction. At that, he finally answered. "What kind of asshole do you think I am?"

"Are you trying to tell me you're not an asshole?"

For a split second, he smirked. "I didn't say that. I just meant I'm not going to be that asshole who gets off on telling other people's secrets."

"Good." She shifted against the wall before she began to pick at invisible dust on her slate-blue, pink-polka-dotted skirt. "But, hey…"

His eyes darkened immediately at those words. "No. I'm not talking about it."

"Come on, Ronan."

"Don't."

"I just want to know!"

"_Why?_"

"Because I'm your _friend._" She glared at him, drinking in the slow way he reacted. First he pressed his lips together, considering. Next he opened his mouth, which he closed again after a second of silence. Finally he settled on a shrug she guessed he'd tried to make seem more noncommittal than she knew he actually felt.

"Come on," she repeated, trying not to sound exasperated or overly-curious. As it stood, she managed to make her words drip with a considerable amount of both.

Ronan eventually decided to humor her, though he made a point to look disgusted while he did. "Okay, listen, the thing with Gansey is nothing now. Let's just say you and I have inverse problems."

"Inverse…" she tossed this around in her mind a few fleeting seconds, then sucked in a breath when it hit her. "Oh…_ohhhh._ You don't mean you—"

He sneered and said, "Yes, for fuck's sake. That's not a big deal, either."

"But, wow."

"'Wow' my ass. That's nothing."

"So, I definitely don't like Adam, but I like Gansey. And you," she put one hand on her hip and gestured toward him with the other, "don't like Gansey like that…anymore. But you _do _like— Oh, boy."

His sneer faltered with a tiny twitch, which prompted his whole expression to cave into something akin to exhaustion. "I had a dream about him."

"About Adam."

Ronan nodded, but he didn't look at her. "Adam." His eyes were becoming less fierce and more dazed, but he snapped out of it in a flash as he stood from his bed. "That's it. That's everything. Now get your ass out of here."

Blue snorted before she allowed a smile to light up her face. "Remember that these are our secrets, all right?"

He regarded her smile as if it was something he'd never seen before and made a 'tch' sound. "Whatever."

Which, of course, was his way of saying yes.

Presently, the sound of the Pig rattling its way into the parking lot made itself evident, and both of them froze. Blue recovered first, then sprang into a lively, "Guess I'm not leaving."

Ronan pretended he minded her staying, and she pretended to believe him. That was how their dynamic worked, she realized with a pleased grin. Ronan was a Raven Boy and, like Gansey and Adam and Noah, he was undoubtedly her friend. Friends bound by a quest—her and Ronan by a secret. And together, they were undefeatable.


End file.
